General manager Joe Schoen was in East Rutherford for the NY Giants’ voluntary minicamp Wednesday. In a scheduled press conference with media after practice, Schoen was asked a series of questions relating to his first few months in charge of the struggling franchise.
While most looked ahead to the draft, he was asked about the elephant in, or rather not in, the room – James Bradberry. Having confirmed he had been in touch with Bradberry’s agent, he let reporters know the star corner had not returned to voluntary workouts with the team.
Reason enough to suspect the Giants will move on from Bradberry, Schoen was asked whether the team are still receiving calls for the player. He confirmed it in an article written by Michael Elsen of Giants.com:
"“We’ve gotten calls on James Bradberry, yeah”"
The response itself is certainly not groundbreaking, clearly a tactical decision by Schoen who paused before his response to choose his words carefully. Paired with the comments earlier in the day by head coach Brian Daboll, however, it could be fair to predict Bradberry will not be a Giant for the 2022 season.
When Daboll was asked about Bradberry, his response was simply “he’s on the roster”. Not exactly a shining endorsement of a player you would expect at the top of the cornerback depth chart in 2022.
NY Giants likely have no choice in keeping James Bradberry
According to Over The Cap, the Giants currently have under $6 million of cap space in 2022. Trading Bradberry would save an approximate $12 million against the 2022 figure, depending on the trade’s designation.
The move will likely be required in order for the Giants to afford to sign their 2022 rookie class – a testament to the severity of the cap situation left by Dave Gettleman. While there have been a variety of rumored landing spots for Bradberry, a trade is yet to develop.
This is likely due to the lack of leverage the Giants have in negotiations. It would not be a surprise, however, to see a move made ahead of the draft next week – particularly if Schoen is eyeing up a potential draft pick in return for the star corner.